Is Small Beautiful?

Five years ago, Canadian book publishers emerged from a horror story. General Publishing, a book distributor handling books from a number of Canadian publishers, had gone bankrupt. Book returns from the big-box bookstores had surged to unacceptable levels and payments were delayed. A number of independent bookstores had gone out of business. Reflecting on the crisis, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage issued a report on the Canadian book industry in June 2000, noting the problems and listing the challenges that faced the industry. A year later, Indigo acquired Chapters.

After that rollercoaster ride, it was hoped that things could settle down and Canadian publishers could get down to creating and selling books.

However, numbers released by Statistics Canada in June 2006 show a troubling tale. (1) In 2004, the total revenue for book publishers in Canada was some $2.2 billion; 47 percent of that revenue went to the 19 foreign-controlled book...